Sawt Falasteen - Over 30 killed, several kidnapped in central Nigeria

Know locally as "bandits", the gangs invaded Kasuwan Daji village in Kabe district of Niger State and set a market ablaze, before looting shops for food.

"Over 30 victims lost their lives during the attack, some persons were also kidnapped," during the raid on Saturday, Wasiu Abiodun, Niger police spokesman said.

Several pictures and video footage seen by AFP showed that some of the victims had their hands tied to their backs before they were killed.

Gangs regularly carry out mass kidnappings for ransom and loot villages in the parts of northwest and northcentral Nigeria.

Niger state has been one of the hardest hit in recent months.

In November, armed gangs seized more than 250 students and staff from a Catholic school in the state.

Authorities announced their release in two batches weeks later without saying whether ransom was paid.

The attack took place less than 20 kilometres (12 miles) from Papiri village where the students and teachers were snatched from their school. The Catholic church in the area put the death toll at more than 40, a much higher toll than that given by police.

"Reports indicate the bandits operated for hours with no security presence," the Catholic Church in Kontagora said on its Facebook page.

Nigeria's security system is stretched thin by security challenges in different parts of the country.

Africa's most populous country faces multiple conflicts -- linked to a long-running jihadist insurgency, bandits, farmer-herder violence or southeastern separatists -- that kill both Christians and Muslims.

On Christmas Eve, a suspected suicide bomber killed at least five people in an attack on a mosque in northeastern Borno state.

Washington has in recent months criticised the country's failure to rein in the violence that President Donald Trump insists amounts to "persecution" of Christians -- a framing long used by the US religious right.

Despite the Nigerian government and independent analysts rejecting the accusations, the US launched surprise Christmas day airstrikes on militants linked to the Islamic State group.

Abuja said it approved the hits.

President Bola Tinubu in December vowed a national security revamp when he presented the government's 2026 budget to the national assembly, allocating the biggest chunk of spending to defence, days after he appointed a new defence minister.

Q.Jaber--SF-PST